This invention concerns bee-keeping and beehives in particular.
Bees are essentially kept for the use of the honey and wax they produce. Bee-keeping is generally practiced in box shaped hives, in which the bees progressively build the honeycombs of their hives.
The honeycomb is a group of hexagonal wax cells in which the worker bees deposit the honey and pollens and where the queen bee lays her eggs for the growth of new bees. To facilitate the construction of the honeycombs, the hives are arranged with mobile frames. Nevertheless, the only function of these frames is to support the honeycombs and to enable their removal.
The bees have to construct the cells of the honeycombs and then keep them intact, by repairing them by producing wax deriving from a chemical transformation of honey and pollens. It is therefore clear that the construction of honeycombs requires a considerable amount of work and of product on the part of the insects. Furthermore the honeycombs wear and break easily, due to their fragility when the honey is collected. In this way, the insects must then re-build or repair them.
The purpose of this invention is to supply an artificial honeycomb, in other words a complex of solid, self-supporting cells that can be inserted as such into the hives, immediately available to the bees without having to construct it themselves: this complex would be re-useable, long-lasting and capable of simplifying and facilitating the collection of useful hive products.
The purpose is reached in the invention with an artificial honeycomb made of heat-formed, or better, moulded plastic, with a high number of hexagonal cells at least on one side, but preferably on both sides, with a dividing film acting as a base for the cells. Each honeycomb can be integral or later fitted with a border or frame for insertion on site into the hives and for handling.
The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and specific objects attained by its uses, reference is made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated.